_ 167 _ Christmas. The island is separated from the coast of Albania by a channel twelve miles wide. We entered the Gulf in a north-easterly direction, which is the bearing on which one enters it. It is seven hundred miles long and sixty, seventy and eighty miles broad. We went on to Velona, a fortress of the Turk, sixty miles into the Gulf, at the extremity of Albania. On the next day, we sighted Castelnuovo, a fortress of the Turk on the coast of Dalmatia, one hundred and seventy miles into the Gulf, and the last Turkish fortress on that coast. The interior is all his. On the same day, we passed Ragusa [Dubrovnik], a fine city encircled by a wall, not however, a strong one, with its small castle. It governs itself and they themselves choose a Doge every month and a castellan every day. They pay tribute to the Turk, but they pay obedience to Venice because they are allowed to live in peace and freedom. It is thirty-two miles from Castelnuovo. The language of the inhabitants is Slavonian. We sailed on peacefully for fifteen or twenty miles, past the island of Mezzo, and then the island of Lissa and the island of San Andrea, all off the coast of Dalmatia, ten or twelve miles apart and seven or eight miles long. San Andrea, which is the last, is one hundred and twenty (?) miles from Ragusa.
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